The Asia Pacific region is home to more than 700 million young people. About 85 million come from marginalized backgrounds, living in extreme poverty, having little to no access to education, employment, health care, and social protection, and facing barriers to meaningful opportunities to engage in decision-making processes that affect their lives. Disconnected from their peers and pushed to the margins, youth took a serious hit due to the profound impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to face significant disruptions and changes on multiple fronts- at home, in their community, and in the economy. They will continue to feel the weight of this crisis for a long time.
The Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE) recognizes the immense value of youth as equal partners in promoting transformative youth and adult work and strong lifelong learning systems and creating a better world. ASPBAE is well-positioned to serve as a source of support for youth and as a platform through which their voices and needs can be conveyed and amplified, even and especially during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. Strengthening the voice and agency of youth in education policies and processes has been a priority of ASPBAE and is a huge part of its work and advocacies.
It is against this backdrop that ASPBAE invites you to its virtual side event:
Youth-led Action Research (YAR) on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Marginalised Youth in 9 Countries in the Asia Pacific
Register here!
This side event will bring together youth and youth organizations, national and local governments officials, international organizations, civil society organizations, parents’ and teachers’ associations to deepen understanding of the new and challenging realities that marginalized youth are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the different aspects of their lives. The event specifically aims to:
✱ Share stories and recommendations of marginalized youth on how to place education, decent work, and social protection at the centre of the agenda towards recovery and resilience
✱ Discuss measures that governments, decision-makers, and other relevant stakeholders can take to finance and prioritize the recommendations of youth
✱ Appraise the VNRs of 12 countries in the region through an adult learning and education (ALE) lens looking into the integration of youth and adult learning and education in the implementation of the SDGs
✱ Discuss the financing of education based on the recommendations from the youth-led action research
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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. For more information on the NGO Committee on Children’s Rights, please visit childrightsny.org.
